To one whose eyes are dark-adapted, switching on a bathroom light can be a painful, temporarily blinding experience that can last several minutes. However, conventional low-wattage night-lights typically do not provide enough light for someone who needs to use the bathroom. People whose eyes are dark-adapted, therefore are usually faced with the unpleasant choice of using the bathroom with either too little light or with too much light.
Several prior-art devices exist for illuminating a toilet and the surrounding area. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,178 to Picon on Aug. 22, 1989 teaches a battery-powered light attached to a toilet seat that is activated by lifting the seat into a vertical position or by manual switching. Such a device allows one to determine, at a glance, if the toilet seat is down or up. However, the lamp of such a device is a direct source of light when the seat is in the vertical position and, as such, is still difficult to look at with dark-adapted eyes. Further, such a device is mounted in a substantially permanent manner on the toilet seat, making the device difficult to clean as is often required. Further, the battery of such devices will quickly be drained if the seat is left in its vertical position inadvertently, or if the switch is accidentally left on, for an extended period of time.
Many of the same drawbacks exit for the device taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,433 to Humble et al., issued on Jul. 30, 1991. Such a device automatically switches on when a light sensor detects darkness. However, such a light is not used continually during darkness, and hence much of the energy in its battery is wasted. While the device is adapted to be recharged by sunlight during the day, not all bathrooms have sufficient light during the day to fully recharge its batteries. Further, as with the previously mentioned patent, this type of device is difficult to remove once installed and therefore difficult to clean. Moreover, this device also presents a direct source of light to the eyes, and is difficult to look at or near with dark-adapted eyes.
Another prior-art device, taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,288 to Borne on Sep. 28, 1976, shows a night light toilet seat wherein a light-conducting member is embedded within a semi-transparent or transparent toilet seat. Clearly, such a device is quite expensive to manufacture and requires replacement of otherwise conventional toilet parts. Further, while much of the light produced by such a device is indirect and therefore much easier to view with dark-adapted eyes, the light goes out when the toilet seat is raised. Men standing before a toilet need the toilet illuminated so as not to miss the toilet, and this is one of the primary reasons for having a light on a toilet in the first place.
Clearly, then, there is a need for a toilet night light that is easy to install, easy to use, and easy to clean. Such a needed device would illuminate the toilet bowl evenly and indirectly, presenting no point-sources of direct light to the user. Such a needed device would switch on simply by moving the toilet seat from one position to another, and would require no additional manually-actuated switches. Further, such a needed device would have at least one time delay means whereby the light would automatically switch off after a selectable pre-set time. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.